WHAT IS COASTAL EROSION?

Coastal erosion occurs when the waves that lap at the coast slowly wear away at the shoreline. As these waves
wash over the shore, they carry sand and sediment with them and redistribute it to the ocean floor or to other
areas. Erosion can be worsened by factors such as high winds, wave currents, and tidal currents. Because all of
these conditions are common in Florida, beach erosion is a common occurrence in the state. That is why finding
ways to stop coastal erosion is even more important to residents of Florida than those of other states.
WHY DO WE NEED TO PREVENT BEACH EROSION?
If you live in Florida, you have likely seen the damage that can result from beach erosion. The process of erosion
slowly eats away at the coastline. This is a danger for anyone who has a home or business near the coast since it
can eventually lead to the ground under your home being eroded away. In addition, erosion can cause water to
collect around your foundation. When this happens, the water can weaken your concrete foundation, or it can
seep through the porous surface of your foundation and cause moisture issues in your home or business. All of
these problems related to erosion can require expensive repairs.
That is why it is vital for Florida residents to know about ways to prevent beach erosion. Preventing beach erosion
near your home or business could help ensure that your foundation does not suffer failure and that you do not
have to deal with water seepage.
WAYS TO PREVENT BEACH EROSION OR PROTECTION
There are several different methods that have been used in various places to prevent beach erosion. Some of
these methods have worked fairly well, but there are always different drawbacks and advantages to each. Some of
the most common methods to prevent coastal erosion are as follows:

 Groins: These are long, wall-like structures that are built on beaches and extend into the ocean
perpendicular to the shoreline. The idea behind groins is that they act as a barrier to longshore currents.
This allows them to control and modify the movement of sand. As the longshore current hits the groin, it
loses velocity and dumps sand and sediment on the upcurrent side of the wall. While this catches sand on
the upcurrent side of the wall, it leads to more erosion on the downcurrent side of the wall, where the
waves once again pick up sand and sediment.
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 Jetties: This solution involves constructing a line (2 or more depending on the number of channels) of long
structures perpendicular to the coast that reach into the ocean. These are usually made from stone,
concrete, steel, or timber, and are designed to keep sand from entering a ship channel. As sand builds up
on against the upcurrent side of the jetties, it can be redistributed along the beach to further reduce
erosion. However, much like groins, erosion still occurs on the downcurrent side of the jetties.


 Breakwaters: These are barriers that are constructed offshore parallel to or at an angle to the shoreline.
Breakwaters act as a wave barrier, allowing the beach to grow while preventing harmful erosion. As
waves hit the breakwater, they deposit their load of sediment along it. However, any part of the coast not
protected by the breakwater continues to experience erosion.
 Beach Nourishment: This is a soft solution (one that does not require a hard structure) that involves
depositing sand on the beach in order to artificially widen it. Although this solution can be effective, it is
costly and temporary.

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 Vegetation: Strategic planting of vegetation can be used to help control erosion. the roots of coastal
plants help to anchor the sand and ensure that it is not carried off in erosion. This is why many areas plant
 seagrass and build marshes along coasts to prevent erosion. However, this solution means that the beach
may not be as functional as it once was, particularly if it is a tourist area.

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 Seawalls: Seawalls are one particularly effective way to prevent erosion. These are structures that are
built along the coastline to stop waves from ever coming into contact with the sand/shore on the
opposite side. While seawalls tend to be quite effective at preventing erosion, they are only able to
protect the coast that they are installed along.

Costal erosion due to natural and manmade structure

Natural stucture

Transport gradient
One cause of natural coastal erosion is an increasing gradient in transport rate in the direction of the net transport. This can be
due to gradients in the wave conditions at certain stretches, a curved coastline, or special bathymetric conditions. An example
of this kind of coastal condition is the West Coast of Skaw Spit, the northernmost tip of Denmark. The presence of the headland
and the port at Hirtshals, combined with the shadow effect of southern Norway, results in increasing transport along the
section of coastline some kilometres east of Hirtshals to Gammel Skagen. For this reason the entire NW-oriented section of the
Skaw spit is exposed to erosion.

Loss of sand
Breaching and over-wash
The loss of sand inland due to breaching and over-wash of a barrier island and wind transport. This kind of sand
loss takes place along the exposed coast of Skallingen barrier island on the southern part of the Danish North Sea
coast, see Fig. 2.
Extreme wave and storm surge conditions
Offshore loss during extreme wave and storm surge conditions. The high waves cause the bars to move seawards
and the high storm surges also cause an offshore movement of sand due to non-equilibrium in the profile during
the high surge.
Canyons
The loss of sand into canyons. If there is a deep canyon close to a littoral transport coastline, sand may be lost into
the canyon.
Accumulative beaches
The loss of sand to an accumulative beach at the tip of a sand spit and into deep water at the leeward of the tip of
a sand spit at the termination point of a littoral cell. Sand lost in this way causes accumulative shore and shoal
features in the deposition areas, but the upstream coastline has lost the sand.

Protuding areas
The loss of material from a protruding area to one or two sides is a natural cause of coastal erosion. This typically
happens at till/sandstone headlands and at the tip of deltas, which do not receive sufficient material from the river
due to natural shifting of the river alignment. Delta erosion can also be caused by human impact, which will be
discussed later. It also occurs along semi-hard concave-shaped sections of coastline, which have no or only a small
supply of sand from rivers. The natural state of such a coastline is erosion and straightening; the straightened
coastline is referred to as a simplificated coast,

Marine deposit shorelines

Erosion can occur of the marine deposit shorelines suspended between sections of protruding semi-hard sections
of the coastline, such as till or sandstone. The hard sections have historically provided material for building up the
sedimentary shorelines. The shape of these shorelines is consequently dependent on the presence of the semi-
hard sections and the wave climate. However, as the semi-hard sections continue to erode, the sedimentary
shorelines will follow suit despite the fact that they were originally accumulative forms. This development is part of
the simplificated coast (see Protruding Areas section, above).

Downstream erosion of accumulative forms

Another cause of natural coastal erosion is the erosion downstream of accumulative forms at coastlines with very
oblique wave approach, coast types 4M, 4E, 5M and 5E. Along such coastlines there is a tendency for the natural
formation of spit formations parallel to the coast. They accumulate the sand and shift the sand supply offshore,
which means that the downstream coastline is starved and begins to erode, see Fig. 5., an example of the
formation of a sand spit formation parallel to the coast, which starves the downstream coastline. Note that there is
no sand accumulation west of the port because the sand is trapped in the sand spit further upstream .

Sea level rise

A world-wide sea level rise is a phenomenon, which has been discussed for decades. A global sea level rise of 0.1 to
0.25 m was recorded over the last century. The forecast for the global sea level rise for the next century varies
considerably; however, with a central estimate of 0.2 m and 0.5 m at the middle and end of the 21st century,
respectively, according to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC[1]. An increasing sea level will cause a
shoreline setback, which is approximately equal to the sea level rise divided by the slope of the active coastal
profile, when considering equilibrium profiles. Consider, for example, a sea level rise of 0.5 m and an equilibrium
coastal profile with a slope of the shoreface and the shore of 1/100. The setback caused by such a sea level rise will
be 50 m. Littoral coasts consisting of fine sediments will be exposed to higher setbacks than coasts consisting of
coarser sediments.

Subsidence
Subsidence lowers the surface in a specific region. Subsidence is a local/regional phenomenon in contrast to the
sea level rise, which is global. Subsidence can be caused by many different phenomena, natural as well as human.
Natural causes can be the settling of soft sediments, tectonic activity and different kinds of rebound processes,
whereas human causes can be the extraction of groundwater, oil or gas in the coastal area. Subsidence acts in the
same way as sea level rise in relation to shore erosion apart from the fact that a sea level rise will always be a
gradual and slow process, whereas subsidence may occur rapidly depending on the cause of the subsidence .

Manmade structure